Five years ago today, my heart in my mouth, I self-published THE GREEN PEARL CAPER.
I didn’t know what to expect. This was my first novel, after all. I waited for the sales. Waited for the first reviews. I felt like Clara in Louise Penny’s “A Trick of the Light.”
Fortunately for me, no one found a body in my garden.
I hadn’t planned to write a second novel, much less a third, a fourth and a fifth. But, somehow, Damien and Millie Dickens insisted. I discovered that they – and I – had more to say.
I am grateful to all of you who have purchased, read and reviewed The Green Pearl Caper and the other four books in the Damien Dickens series. I am especially grateful for my beta-readers (you all know who you are), my cheerleaders and my husband, who has been my loyal and patient beta-listener through all five books.
I’ve learned an awful lot about writing, publishing and marketing a book in the last five years, including the importance of a good cover design. Thanks to my talented cousin, Hilary Quint, I now have a series of covers that fit the crimes.
I’m not sure what the next couple of years will bring, except that I plan to keep on writing. I’m taking a (short, I hope) break from Damien and Millie to complete one or two non-fiction projects. But I promise that the formidable husband-and-wife detective team will return. And they will have new problems to solve and new puzzles to investigate.
Meanwhile, I hope every one of you is following all of the recommendations for social distancing and self-isolation. Covid-19 viruses cannot spread or multiply without our help. We are their food supply. Deny them food and they will die.
Stay safe, stay well and be patient. This, too, shall pass.
Phyllis Entis 